The bigger the tyre brand, the more important marketing becomes in order to communicate its values and its worth. With this in mind, the “marketing” tag collates all the latest marketing-related news and analysis into a single place. This reverse-chronological list of thousands of articles is your go-to source of tyre industry, marketing-related news and information.
Stapleton’s has launched Prestivo, a brand new range of tyres available exclusively in the UK through Stapleton’s. Positioned as a quality mid-range production company representatives say Prestivo is a high performance tyre that allows the driver to enjoy the thrills of driving with a comfortable ride. The range is available in two tread patterns, the Prestivo 2000, available now, and the Prestivo Sport, available later this year.
In the USA, SmarTire has been selected by ABC Companies to supply its SmartWave tyre pressure and temperature monitoring systems (TPMS) on the company’s Van Hool motorcoaches, for whom ABC is the exclusive US distributor. ABC is a leader in the sale and leasing of new and pre-owned highway coaches.
(Akron/Tire Review) Matthias Schönberg, managing director of Continental Tire of Mexico, has been named CEO of Continental Tire North America, effective Oct. 1. Alan Hippe, who had been president and CEO, will remain as president of CTNA. In addition, Andreas Gerstenberger, current vice president of sales and marketing, was promoted to executive vice president of sales and marketing at CTNA. As CEO, Schönberg, who has extensive international experience, will head CTNA’s supply chain, sales and marketing and production. He will report to Hippe, who as CFO and executive board member of parent Continental AG will continue to provide strategic direction to CTNA.
In anticipation of future growing demand for electric and hybrid vehicles, Varta’s parent company JCI and French battery manufacturer SAFT have embarked on a joint venture, setting up an Advanced Power Solutions development centre at the HQ of Varta Batteries in Germany. The aim of the enterprise is to bring viable solutions for future hybrid vehicle development to market within the next year.
Sapphire Energy has named NW Tyres Ltd as its regional tyre collector for the North West. NW Tyres, a sister company of DME Tyres, will manage Sapphire’s tyre collections for the whole of the North West region, collecting car, van and truck tyres for processing at Sapphire’s recently opened Manchester facility.
Ken Plaster, managing director of NW Tyres commented: “Sapphire has an excellent reputation in the tyre collection industry for its knowledge of tyre reprocessing, service and training and we are looking forward to a long association with them.”
Sapphire Energy Recovery is celebrating the recovery of its 50 millionth end of life tyre at its processing facility in West Thurrock, Essex. Sales and marketing manager, Ryan Mifflin explained: “Fifty million tyres represents a saving of more than three quarters million cubic metres of landfill space, enables tyre manufacturers to meet their producer responsibility obligations and provides tyre change depots with a sustainable disposal route.”
UK TV viewers of BBC’s Top Gear motoring programme will be familiar with the character called “The Stig” – an anonymous driver who regularly puts cars through their paces by driving them at the limit. Italian tyre manufacturer Marangoni has its own version of the Stig who, according to the company, has the task of assisting the Marangoni research and development team in testing and analysing each product’s ‘intelligence’, on track and road. The information gained is used to ensure performance, comfort and safety are optimised for everyday drivers. The main difference is that the identity of Marangoni’s ‘Stig’ is not shrouded in mystery – he is in fact former F3 driver and European GT Champion, Cristiano del Balzo – the current Director of the Italian equivalent of the MSA, the CSAI Velocità.
ABB, a leading power and automation technology group, said on 23 August, it has signed an agreement with Cooper Tire & Rubber Company to manage maintenance operations at its Albany, Georgia plant. “This service agreement is one of various strategic initiatives within Cooper Tire to improve manufacturing efficiency, product and customer mix, and market share,” said Scott Jamieson, vice president of manufacturing for Cooper Tire. “By entrusting plant maintenance operations to an established partner such as ABB, we can better focus on our core competence of manufacturing and marketing high-quality tyres at competitive costs.”
Stand bookings for the next Brityrex International exhibition, to be held at the G-MEX Exhibition Centre, Manchester from 1-3 May 2007, are coming in at a steady pace, according to the organisers ECI International. Sometimes the pace is more than steady, such as the day in August when three separate companies confirmed their attendance at the show. The three were Snap-on Equipment, Tyreco and Rema Tip Top UK and Tyres & Accessories asked them their reasons for booking space at the show.
Stand bookings for the next Brityrex International exhibition, to be held at the G-MEX Exhibition Centre, Manchester from 1-3 May 2007, are coming in at a steady pace, according to the organisers ECI International. Sometimes the pace is more than steady, such as the day in August when three separate companies confirmed their attendance at the show. The three were Snap-on Equipment, Tyreco and Rema Tip Top UK and Tyres & Accessories asked them their reasons for booking space at the show.
Exhibitions, said Brian O’Sullivan, General Manager of Snap-on Equipment Ltd., are a regular part of the company’s marketing strategy, with Snap-on usually exhibiting at at least two or three shows a year.
The company offers a range of wheel service equipment under the Hofmann and John Bean brands; no fewer than 10 Hofmann wheel balancers, eight Hofmann tyre changers and eight John Bean computerised alignment systems.
Snap-on Equipment enjoyed great success at the last Brityrex International and O’Sullivan is looking forward to 2007, saying: “We will be using the show to showcase our extensive alignment, balancing and tyre changing ranges, along with the launch of a number of new products, the details of which are confidential at the moment.”
Tools and consumables on show
In contrast to the Snap-on’s line up of capital equipment, Rema Tip Top UK will be using Brityrex to promote its extensive ranges of tools and consumables. The company will be sharing its stand with Taiwanese company K-Tools, the manufacturer of Kuani brand air tools, for which Rema Tip Top has the exclusive UK tyre industry distribution rights.
Divisional Manager, Tyre Repair Materials, Cliff Jones revealed that Rema Tip Top will also be showing a couple of new products, including Xact Balance, from the USA. This is a thermoplastic adhesive weight, with steel particles inside but further details will be released nearer the show.
New product number two is a repair kit for run-flat tyres which, given the current level of debate surrounding these products, should attract a great deal of interest from the tyre trade.
So why had Rema Tip Top decided to use Brityrex International as the launch pad for these products? “We chose Brityrex because it is a tyre-related – indeed, a tyre-specific show” Jones answered, adding that the fact that the event was being supported by the NTDA was “a major factor” in the company’s decision to participate.
The fact that Brityrex International is a dedicated tyre exhibition also played a large part in the decision of UK tyre wholesaler Tyreco to take a stand at the show. In Tyreco’s case, the emphasis is not so much on exhibiting products as a business opportunity for both buying and selling. As Director and General Manager Eddy Fogarty put it: “We will be at the show to do business, rather than just show tyres.”
Why pick Brityrex? “The main reason behind our decision to participate was the obvious success of the last Brityrex at Harrogate,” explained Fogarty, adding: “We regard Brityrex as a professionally-run show for the tyre sector.”
And what about the move to G-MEX? “Manchester is a terrific location and we are looking forward to a successful event,” he replied.
Speaking for ECI International, Managing Director Paul Farrant said that he was “delighted” that so many companies had decided to commit themselves to Brityrex International at this comparatively early stage, believing it to be a vindication of ECI’s decision to revive the show.
Brityrex International is an important part of ECI’s continuing and growing involvement in tyre industry exhibitions – an international involvement that currently spans three continents, with the Tyrexpo Asia, Tyrexpo Africa and Brityrex International events:
“When we re-introduced Brityrex last year, we said that we believed that there was a need and a demand for a UK-based exhibition, dedicated to the tyre industry,” said Farrant. He went on: “The positive reactions that we have had to the 2007 event so far show that our faith was justified and we are very pleased with progress to date.”
(Akron/Tire Review) Cooper’s Mickey Thompson tyre group has launched a revised web site – www.mickeythompsontires.com. The updated site, said the company, “features a variety of information on all Mickey Thompson Tires and Wheels in addition to the latest race news, tech tips, motorsports links, event calendars, application guides, an online store, and more.”
Golf enthusiasts at Bridgestone UK say they will have one eye on the lush fairways of Ohio this week when leading global stars contest the World Golf Championships. A strong field at the Bridgestone Invitational event, which tees off at the Firestone Country Club in Akron on Thursday (24 August), includes Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen, Sergio Garcia, Geoff Ogilvy, Luke Donald and Paul Casey. As well as striving to emulate last year’s winner Tiger Woods, many of the American and European participants will also be looking to score valuable ranking points for a starting place in next month’s Ryder Cup.
Kwik-Fit has named Chris Bosworth as business development and marketing director. Reporting to CEO Ian Fraser, in this newly created role Chris Bosworth will be responsible for all Kwik-Fit’s brand development strategy as well as all external and internal communications, including its high profile TV advertising campaigns. Prior to joining Kwik-Fit Bosworth was customer delivery planning director at Orange UK. Reporting directly to the COO, he was responsible for a £600 million subscriber acquisition and retention budget as well as channel strategy and web-channel development.
(Akron/Tire Review) Tire distributor Friend Tire Co. and Independent Tire Dealers Group have combined their existing marketing/buying groups for independent dealers into one programme. “The Independent Tire Dealers Group program is a perfect fit with our own Nationwide Tire Dealers Program,” said Don Isbell, president of Friend Tire. “Combined, the two offers the independent tire dealer everything they need to operate a successful business. We will begin immediately to explore the opportunities presented by this new configuration.”
(Akron/Tire Review) Goerlich’s Inc. will change its corporate name to AP Exhaust Products Inc. “Today we have the opportunity to again use the AP name that for so many years played an important role in the aftermarket,” said President and CEO Vange Proimos. “By changing the corporate name it opens the door to a multitude of marketing strategies.
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